Condescending Catherine Beard on TPP

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, February 18th, 2015 - 51 comments
Categories: Economy, trade - Tags: , , , ,

Grrr, Catherine Beard, a director of ExportNZ, appears to be an ideological idiot who is too stupid or driven to realise her own degree of ignorance. Her puff piece for the TPP in the Herald this morning has nothing about the TPP. It just says “trust the negotiators”. Huh? They are the problem. They aren’t exporters and they don’t run businesses.

I’ve been involved in exporting from NZ for more than 35 years in everything from manufacturing to software. And I’ve worked on farms in  my youth. I’ve always been a great supporter of free trade deals – right up until I started looking at the TPP.  In my view, from the published details, the Trans Pacific Partnership deal is a restraint of trade deal.

Everything we currently know about this secretive deal indicates that we won’t get anything more than token agricultural access, that there is unlikely to be any significiant differences beyond what we have in our access to markets for other goods and services, and we’re likely to have some significiant reductions in the free trade we already have in NZ and outside.

Catherine Beard’s opinion piece has the flavour of it is that of an idiot mouthing religious maxims without any understanding of the ritual words mean.

Those questioning the value of free trade agreements could do well to examine the results achieved by New Zealand’s other agreements, and consider what we would miss out on if we were not included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

And so on for the entire article.

So where is the detail? We simply have no idea what we would miss out because virtually no information is available. The entire TPP process has been done in overwhelming secrecy with only a few bits of drafts released.

The bottom line is that there is no country that stands to benefit more from free trade deals than New Zealand.

Our major export categories and businesses of scale are from the agricultural sector, which is where you’ll also find the biggest tariffs and barriers to trade around the world.

And so far it looks like there is no change to those barriers apart from a few token ones. The biggest potential markets, in the US and Japan, appear likely to do at most a bilateral deal that can be what is possible to get through the diet and congress.

Those who raise doubts over the net benefits of free trade agreements in New Zealand tend to take a Chicken Little view of the world, and think of all the potential worst case scenarios. Sure, our negotiators have to hold firm to ensure the best outcomes for our economy overall in areas like intellectual property, investor state disputes mechanisms, environment and health and safety.

But they have proven competent at getting good results in the past, and can do so for the TPP as well or why would we sign the deal?

They did well because the deals were largely hammered out in public view. People who were interested pointed out problems and issues. Sure they made the whole thing messy with chicken little, but they also meant that every exporter, importer, and professional body knew what was happening long before the deal was signed. They put in their contributions. They had input and so the deals were pretty well balanced.

This deal doesn’t have any of that. “Interested parties” have been defined by the negotiators. Across the world those selected appear to have been very carefully selected from the free trade ideologues like Ms Beard appears to be or those who stand to gain. They are not shown much of the drafts. They are shown the bits that they are likely to agree with. It is in other words a propaganda exercise.

If and when disputes arise with our trading partners, they will need to be managed. All our free trade agreements include mechanisms for managing any disputes should they arise. This is what businesses around the world do every day of every week of every year. Governments can help us by removing barriers to trade.

Ah yes, and those mechanisms are? At this point they look like an excuse for international lawyers to drag cases out for years while extorting the maximum in fees to come to an arbitrary decision in a settlement extorted by the party with the deepest pockets. In short they are the bloody silly american frivolous  litigation system. Perhaps Ms Beard should explain why we want that here?

The public and exporters, are unlikely to find out what is in this deal before it is signed by the executive. Sure it will go in front of parliament for a few days, but they can’t prevent the executive from signing it and then approving it.

Basically NZ should drop out of this deal and go back to what it was negotiating  prior to the US getting excited about joining in. Bilateral and smaller multilateral deals that actually produce results and don’t have the degrees of obsessive secrecy that the TPP has been running under.

51 comments on “Condescending Catherine Beard on TPP ”

  1. freedom 1

    One positive from that opinion piece is that of the 89 comments published only 2 are in support of the TPPA. Could be kiwis have really begun to take notice that TPPA is not free trade – No matter how many times Catherine Beard uses the phrase

    • Brendon Harre 1.1

      Quite right Freedom. I think we would have a much more productive discussion about trade deals if we dropped the propaganda.

      This propaganda starts with the description -‘free’ trade deal. If the ‘free’ part is dropped and TPPA is just referred to as a trade deal this completely changes the debate. If negotiators had to use actual words rather than meaningless ideological words like ‘free trade’, they would actually have to report what trade rules are changing and how that benefits the wider economies of those involved.

      • freedom 1.1.1

        Discussing TPPA, without openly admitting it is not a free trade deal, is like describing human reproduction without mentioning genitalia

        • ghostwhowalksnz 1.1.1.1

          Just another version of the old ‘Empire’ preference trade deals NZ had before the war

          • greywarshark 1.1.1.1.1

            gww
            It is not that “Just another version of the old ‘Empire’ preference trade deals NZ had before the war”, as I understand it. They did not take our sovereignty and we got such benefit from them that it weakened our own entrepreneurial outlook. In a way we have fallen into the same trap with the milk powder.

            When the CEO at Fonterra before this one was put in his appointment was criticsed because of his expertise was mainly in commodities.

            Now with TPPA it would be worse. There would be such stringent controls over things we want to do now, things planned, and things that we might want to do in the future if the Yanks could show that they might have done it, would be goneburger for us. And I’m not sure that it isn’t already but one keeps on thinking and working for a better NZ where there really is a level playing field for income and jobs and opportunities and wages and reasonable services.

            Oh by the way did everyone hear that the business/Council lobby in Napier have worked out that they can get part of a rail system going to Wairoa which will carry logs and should be viable for a foreseeable number of decades. Now they just need some finance for it. There should be a fund available to assist the regions with their particular business centres, someone like a central authority that could act for the country’s good. Oh yes, that’s the government isn’t it. Well all’s set isn’t it for Napier and their rail system.

            • disturbed 1.1.1.1.1.1

              Yes thanks GWS,

              we were stoked as we have worked for this for Three years now and HBRC have finally realised that the Port of Napier they operate was loosing freight from Gisborne now winging its way through dangerous winding roads through Gorges to Tauranga 200 kms further away than the Gisborne to Napier Port so they are backing rail finally.

              Funny how when we are bleeding with loss of Export freight and jobs in production of produce export commodities the local Councils do step up to help us while the ominous cloud of TPPA hovers above us all.

              Good on HB Regional Council we salute you.

              Here is todays vote result.

              Support in principle for Napier-Wairoa Rail line proposal
              Wednesday, 18 February 2015, 2:44 pm
              Press Release: Hawkes Bay Regional Council
              Support in principle for Napier-Wairoa Rail line proposal
              Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s Corporate & Strategic Committee is recommending Council supports in principle a proposal to lease the mothballed Napier to Gisborne Rail line from KiwiRail.
              The line was mothballed in December 2012, after storms earlier in the year caused severe damage, which is expected to cost close to $4 million to repair. Council commissioned a business case late last year on whether leasing the line was a good investment for the Council and the region.
              An interim business case was presented to today’s Corporate & Strategic Committee meeting recommending Council supports the opening of the rail service from Napier to Wairoa to move logs from a hub in Wairoa to Napier Port, subject to a number of conditions, including lease terms which are suitable to both KiwiRail and HBRC.
              KiwiRail set a deadline of 1 March 2015 for the Council to make a decision on whether to lease the line, and at today’s meeting Councillors agreed in principle.
              The Committee is recommending a final deadline of 30 June 2015 to resolve all outstanding issues between KiwiRail and HBRC, confirm an operator and private investors and to get a more definitive indication of how much support there is for the proposal from Wairoa forest companies.
              It was also recommended Council Chairman Fenton Wilson liaise with all interested parties, including Council’s investment company HBRIC Ltd, the Napier Gisborne Rail Group, Napier Port, and other transport interests and KiwiRail to enhance the prospects of the initiative succeeding.
              The recommendations will be considered at next Wednesday’s full council meeting.

              • greywarshark

                @ disturbed
                Time for a short celebration for your group I hope. And then dot the is and cross the ts by June. I heard that the deadline had been March but you want more time to get the plan and effective financials carefully worked out. It’s a different case than if it was a casino!

                Then is there something that you can do to protect yourselve against some wily plan to undercut the price of rail and get some advantage or subsidy to transport logs by road? Some sort of cost on the odometer travel over the roads? There are such p.icks out there, they think it is smart to undercut if they could find advantage that you had not considered for the scenario, even if it made the rail non-viable. There is monopoly money to be made for trucking firms if the rail became expensive or something happened to the lines or consignments. I’m such a suspicious so and so, but human deviousness is always to be reckoned with.

              • millsy

                Thatsgood about about the line, but I’m not really keen about the desire to push the deadline back. I understand the need to get things sorted, but the longer the line is out of action, the harder it is to get back into action, especially with the lycra brigade wanting it.

                • greywarshark

                  @ millsy
                  Don’t say that the ‘bikers’ want it. I get pissed off at the vogue for kowtowing to the sacred bicycling fraternity. I hate not being safe on what used to be pedestrian ways and seeing a cyclist whizz by who I hadn’t heard though I have good hearing. Knowing if I had made a sudden decision to change my position while on a path, I would have been hit and be lying dazed, scratched, bruised and perhaps with broken bones hard to heal at my time of life. And perhaps be subject to invective from the also hurt biker.

                  Adults and children can quietly and fast, be upon you in milli-seconds. There are fewer places to take a relaxed, healthy walk where you don’t have to be aware and anxious of these speedsters. Bugger them. They are pests like fruitflies and have to be watched before invading the whole country.

        • Brendon Harre 1.1.1.2

          Sorry Freedom I’m confused. There were too many double negatives in that sentence. My position is I think all ‘free trade’ deals are actually just ‘trade deals’. They are simply negotiations about the rules of trade. The trade deal may be positive or negative depending on the rules.

          So Lprent is right, lets stop the secrecy, so we can judge whether this TPPA trade deal is a positive or a negative.

      • Tracey 1.1.2

        Propaganda is not required if facts will do the trick.

    • Tracey 1.2

      and Wayne Mapp mischievously uses that phrase too. Especially mischievous given he knows it is not “like” the other “free trade agreements”. Unless he doesn’t, which is also a worry.

  2. Philip Ferguson 2

    Interestingly, Karl Marx preferred free trade to protectionism in his time. He thought it speeded up the contradictions of capitalism.

    In Britain, the working class movement of the early 1800s was allied with the free traders because protectionism pushed up the price of bread, crucial to working class subsistence, and simply allowed the big British landowners to make huge profits.

    After the repeal of the corn laws the interests of workers ceased to coincide with the interests of any of the capitalists.

    Phil

    • Sans Cle 2.1

      Interesting point about free trade over protectionism (to bring the revolution closer, in Marx’s eyes). However, Marx did not have the value of hindsight to see how the capitalist system’s very clever mechanism of self-protection has manifested over the last 150 years. These are largely in the forms of private property rights (our rules), and more creatively in the form of cross border rules (e.g. globalisation and specific rules governing transactions, a.k.a. the TPPA).

      It is the rules we need to change……and this government is not giving the general public ANY chance to influence this rule set, given the secrecy of negotiations and lack of public input.

    • Brendon Harre 2.2

      That is a very insightful comment Philip and readers should think deeply about it.

      I would argue the rural land owning gentry which was exploiting the working class in the 1800s had the implicit support of the political establishment until the reforms started by repelling the Corn laws (laws that at the time limited trade in grain) and continued with by liberal politicians who introduced various egalitarian reforms, for example by giving the working class and woman the vote.

      Unfortunately the egalitarian reforms have waned and exploitation has returned. I think today that exploitation has moved into the urban areas. The FIRE (Finance, insurance and real estate) industries have the implicit support of the political establish to exploit the working class. Joseph Stiglitz in his critique of Piketty discusses this here.

      http://www.salon.com/2015/01/02/joseph_stiglitz_thomas_piketty_gets_income_inequality_wrong_partner/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

    • greywarshark 2.3

      Thanks Phil F
      I have often read of the Corn Laws and that they were important but did not know just what the story was.

  3. Gosman 3

    Aren’t most international negotiations carried out with a degree of secrecy? Certainly it is the norm for trade negotiations I believe.

    • r0b 3.1

      Not necessarily:

      http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1502/S00163/tppa-secret-while-eu-releases-ttip-documents.htm

      TPPA secret while EU releases TTIP documents

      Thursday, 12 February 2015, 5:00 pm
      Press Release: Professor Jane Kelsey

      ‘Trade minister Tim Groser has repeatedly claimed that negotiations for agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) are never conducted in daylight. That is simply not true.’

      ‘There are many such instances, including the Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that involved six of the TPPA parties,[1] where draft negotiating texts and other documents have been released. He has ignored the inconvenient truth and continued to assert his position as fact’, says University of Auckland Professor Jane Kelsey.

      ‘The European Commission (EC) has now conclusively just put the lie to such claims’.

      Professor Kelsey has just published two papers analysing recent developments in the negotiations between the European Union and the US called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which parallel those for the TPPA.

      One contrasts the obsessive secrecy that continues to envelope the TPPA with the inquiry by the EU Ombudsman into transparency and public access to TTIP documents[2] and the EC’s subsequent decision to release a raft of its own negotiating documents with.[3] The second outlines the Ombudsman’s reports and the EC’s responses. [4] …

      • Gosman 3.1.1

        I stated most and at this point the release of information around the EU -US trade deal seems to be a proposal rather than actual release. The point being the usual standard on International negotiations (not just trade ones) is that they are carried out with a degree of secrecy.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 3.2

      Yes, that’s discussed in the post. English comprehension 101?

    • lprent 3.3

      There are degrees of secrecy about specific details – usually those that are being argued to the fine print at the time. But usually the broader details are easily available and widely discussed through the trade mags and the like.

      However this one has been such that it has been impossible at the official level to distinguish even the general principles. Most of the information that is out in place are leaks. Sometimes in clear bits of misinformation.

      It is a whole different level of secret to *any* trade agreement I have seen before.

      Perhaps you’d like to give examples of others NZ has been involved in that have similar levels of secrecy?

    • r0b 3.4

      The details of the agreement are secret from we the people, from the American congress, but not from American business:

      https://wikileaks.org/tpp/pressrelease.html

      Since the beginning of the TPP negotiations, the process of drafting and negotiating the treaty’s chapters has been shrouded in an unprecedented level of secrecy. Access to drafts of the TPP chapters is shielded from the general public. Members of the US Congress are only able to view selected portions of treaty-related documents in highly restrictive conditions and under strict supervision. It has been previously revealed that only three individuals in each TPP nation have access to the full text of the agreement, while 600 ’trade advisers’ – lobbyists guarding the interests of large US corporations such as Chevron, Halliburton, Monsanto and Walmart – are granted privileged access to crucial sections of the treaty text.

      Tim Grosser has stated that the reason the Nats are keeping it secret in NZ is that they don’t want pubic debate:

      https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20141030/16291028989/new-zealands-trade-minister-admits-they-keep-tpp-documents-secret-to-avoid-public-debate.shtml

      Don’t be content to be a mushroom Gosman.

    • Tracey 3.5

      and are most signed with the terms still a secret from those who elected the negotiators?

  4. Tom Gould 4

    Beard is simply a functionary spinning what her masters require of her. She is as much under the yoke of the ‘golden rule’ as any of us – he who has the gold makes the rules. Ignorance is her choice.

  5. Ad 5

    TPPA is this government’s greatest international failure. New Zealand started these talks with a handful of countries. We have lost all the original bargaining power we had.

    Labour’s international agreements from its last term have been revolutionary – particularly the China free trade deal.

    Key will simply never have the gravitas to be a statesman that can win New Zealand international influence. It’s not in him.

    There’s good comparison between New Zealand’s rapid negotiating decline in TPPA and New Zealand joining a military coalition in Iraq without UN mandate.

    Key simply doesn’t have the skill to promote the interests of New Zealand in any multilateral engagement. This weakness puts New Zealand and New Zealnders at risk.

    • The TPPA has nothing to do with free trade.
      Marx didnt live to see capitalism become transformed from its ‘competitive’ stage to in its highest, imperialist stage where the world was divided between imperialist oppressors and colonised oppressed countries.

      Its a continuation of neo-liberalism – the policy of the US to overcome its crisis of falling profits by breaking down national barriers to US corporations buying up what is left of the scarce resources they need to survive.

      Its an attempt by the US to complete the neo-liberal counter-revolution and impose a system of US monopoly on the weaker powers of the Pacific basin who have used their state sovereignty to resist US corporate monopolies.

      That is why the TPPA takes the form of bullying the weaker states in the US imperialist bloc to remove all sovereign barriers to US corporates buying up all forms of property from state to IP to re-colonise the weaker powers as sources of cheap labour and raw materials.

      This is what is happening to NZ today. NZ has gone from a settler colony with limited self-governing independence from imperialist Britain, to a servile client state of the USA, and a neo-colony of Chinese imperialism.

      The TPPA has nothing to do with ‘comparative advantage’ (the basis of the theory of free trade) and everything to do with monopoly state capitalism.

      Were Marx alive today he would recognise that imperialism arose out of the limits of market competition between capitalists to develop the forces of production, giving rise to state monopoly capitalism, producing waste, destroying everything that it touches, and threatening the end of human civilisation and most of the living species on earth.

      Anything that mobilises the federation of international freedom fighters against this destructive death star would be actively supported by Marx.

      • Sans Cle 5.1.1

        I agree – and to further your point, if the TPPA were about comparative advantage (or if any trade deal were about comparative advantage, for that matter), we would have freedom of both labour and capital, not just capital.
        But we don’t!
        We let our capital run riot around the world – footloose and fancy free, getting return on investment and profits from every-which-place it can, and from every-which-time period (think futures trading, and profiteering on things that are not in existence yet, insurance markets etc etc etc……all the financial instruments that brought on the global financial crisis).
        We put restrictions on our labour movement around the world.
        So the theory of comparative advantage is a red herring…..defunct from the outset.

        What we are left with is capital moving around the financial markets globally, returning profits (and super-normal profits), in the interest of capital stock holders only.

      • Murray Rawshark 5.1.2

        Aotearoa is also very subservient to the interests of Australian capital, seeing that’s where we borrow from to fund the housing crisis. Australia in turn is becoming a neo-colony of China economically even as they maintain their diplomatic, cultural, and military subservience to Washington.

        • Sans Cle 5.1.2.1

          agree – fund the housing crisis and gift Australian banks the fat off Aotearoa’s land (quite literally). Profits from dairy sector are paying the mortgages of the NZ dairy farmland bought/exchanged in the last 20 years.
          If banks are a necessarily evil in our economy, why at least are they not NZ banks?

          I wonder what the outcome would be if China and the US really did begin an economic tug of war for Australia and NZ?

  6. Ad 6

    I seriously expected a Key government would be able to cut highly favourable deals for exporters and NZ domiciled multinationals. In at least his first two years I really wanted him to do as well as Clark at it.

    Key is just a klutz with public to private sector deals.
    After Lord of the Rings – which was a Labour gift – he hasn’t landed a deal of any note. And there’s nothing on the horizon this term apart from the sad old America’s Cup.
    He needs to retire from the field as simply “the popular guy”.

  7. leaf leroux 7

    The same Catherine Beard that shilled relentlessly for climate polluters for years and years?

    Definitely got NZers wellbeing at heart in this public-spirited editorial. I’m sure she’s not being given a free hit to express a narrow lobby group opinion.

    The herald would never do that….

    She’s not an ideologue lprent. Just someone willing to accept money to be the mouthpiece for interests harmful to the common good.

  8. English Breakfast 8

    “Little said China is a powerhouse economy. “Do we want to be part of it or not? Many people say yes, we need to be in there. We have something they want, which is dairy and food but the risks need to be mitigated as much as possible and the agreement goes some way to doing that,’’ he said.

    “As for the future of manufacturing; the FTA hasn’t made the risks any greater.’”

    http://www.bilaterals.org/?hidden-hooks-emerge-in-china-fta

    11 July 2008, by one Mr Andrew Little.

    • One Anonymous Bloke 8.1

      Obviously you can write, and reading is a skill.

      The USA demands restraint of trade, the supremacy of shareholders over citizens. Trash ignores that, and pretends it’s all about “free” trade 🙄

  9. greywarshark 9

    Women who get good managerial positions and then come out with this propaganda feed the memes about women lacking intelligence. Just when as time has gone by, one would think the tale would have been demolished.
    Those questioning the value of free trade agreements could do well to examine the results achieved by New Zealand’s other agreements, and consider what we would miss out on if we were not included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

    A bio of Catherine Beard – under Phil O’Reilly Business NZ so what do you expect eh?

    Catherine Beard – Executive Director (Business NZ)
    Catherine Beard joined BusinessNZ in January 2010 to head up its ExportNZ and Manufacturing sectors.
    The dual role involves overseeing considerable changes to our services as we expand our manufacturing and international trade functions. These will be reflected in our online presence and training.
    Catherine has a wealth of experience in government relations and communication on behalf of industry associations, and is a champion for New Zealand manufacturers and international traders.
    Catherine comes from the Greenhouse Policy Coalition where she was Executive Director providing strong advocacy on behalf of industry to communicate their business challenges to politicians, policy makers, the media and the public.

    What a bunch of toe-licking women we are getting in the top jobs connected with politics. (UNACT ones that is). Metiria Turei certainly doesn’t fit that on the Green side, despite the putdown by yek relating to making decisions on the GCSB referred to in BLIPs post.
    By the way Metiria, don’t smile all the time, males can get the idea you are all sugar with no steel. There’s a nice natural face serious photo on google that is equally good.

    • Tracey 9.1

      Metria needs to be harder and female executives need to be seen to be smarter so as not to feed the bullshit that female executives are stupid?

      • greywarshark 9.1.1

        Any executives male or female in NZ need to work at making smart decisions Tracey.
        Women who are trying to get through the glass ceiling on their own merits are not helped by being compared to those making erroneous statements as quoted.

        And Metiria’s PR image is as important as anyone else’s. And some result in different responses to others. There is constant thought in the political world about how the public view and react to politicians.

  10. Paul 10

    It’s interesting how people like Beard, with extreme minority opinions never fail to get their views aired.
    The Herald.
    A rag serving the needs of the corporate elite.
    Don’t buy it.

  11. Tautoko Mangō Mata 11

    If Labour wanted to raise the minimum wage, with an Investor-State Dispute Settlement ISDS contained in a TPPA Agreement, this may result in a lawsuit.

    Veolia, the giant French-based transportation company, is suing Egypt for raising its minimum wage, which would mean higher pay for workers at the Alexandria bus company it owns and thus lower profits. ”
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-cohen/report-from-berlin-global_1_b_5588169.html

    Of course, Catherine Beard would have no problem with that since she would hardly be supporting any political party that might want to raise the minimum wage, but why should any foreign corporate be given the right to pressure our government to maintain the lowest possible minimum wage.

    You will not sign up to this in our name, Tim Groser.

    • millsy 11.1

      Of course, Wayne Mapp is now on record is saying that corporates being able to sue governments is just fine and dandy..

  12. Macro 12

    I particularly “enjoyed” this sentence:

    Those questioning the value of free trade agreements could do well to examine the results achieved by New Zealand’s other agreements, and consider what we would miss out on if we were not included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

    It shows just how little she understands. The results of these “free” but not fair are:
    a. greater unemployment – exported off-shore to China, India and Indonesia,
    b.lower incomes for middle to lower income workers competing with off-shore cheap wages.
    c. cheap but unreliable imports at the expense of quality.
    d.a loss of national power (the ability of a country to support itself and its sustainability – an import factor in times of international conflict).
    e. a national culture that now regards “self” as the most important factor in any decision -either political or social.

    Catherine Beard obviously displays the last characteristic completely as do many other NZers. They can only see the supply of cheap imports – the latest iPad or other electronic toy or flash car complete with bluetooth and Navman or whatever as being the quintessential object of the “good life”. They do not see the social consequences of this selfish attitude in the slightest. It is to this greed that Key panders, but it leads to increasing misery for our nation.

  13. Murray Simmonds 13

    Yep. A couple of Queensland Fruit Flies turn up in Auckland in a year or two from now and guess what? The pitifully small amount of access we might have been able to negotiate under our shiny new Trade Agreement will be out the window like a shot as the all-powerful USA lobby swings into action. Or miniscule traces of herbicide or ‘possum poison’ or whatever turn up in a consignment of NZ beef or lamb and again the great American clobbering machine will swing into action.

    There will be nothing, repeat NOTHING in this treaty/agreement for NZ if we sign up to it. The ‘agreement’ will be about as “free” as the free AKL Conference centre we were promised. Yeah, Right!

    Who do the proponents of the free trade agreement think they are kidding (apart from themselves, that is)?

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    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    10 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    11 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    13 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    14 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    15 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    16 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    18 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    2 days ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    15 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
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